Kate Good

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Decimonónica

Volume

14

Issue

1

Publisher

Decimonónica

Publication Date

2017

First Page

1

Last Page

15

Abstract

“Los huevos arrefalfados” (1890) forms part of a body of short stories on domestic violence published by Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921), yet it has received scant critical attention.1 As Margot Versteeg observes, the author’s short stories reflect a changing perspective on gender violence, evolving from more reserved to more outspoken in their condemnation of such treatment of women (137). The publication of “Huevos” in 1890 marks a point of inflection in this subset of Pardo Bazán’s work; it portrays neither the strictly passive victim of earlier texts, nor the more fully independent female seen in later ones. Instead, “Huevos” offers a stereotypically gendered depiction of society that begins to integrate alternatives for the subjugated female character. This essay discusses this gendered portrait of society by examining the principal imagery in “Los huevos arrefalfados,” which is culinary and religious. The cooking imagery in this story highlights customary models of masculinity and femininity by portraying the stratified positions of women and men, both in the kitchen and in society at large. The implicit parallel between food and sex serves to reinforce this stratification. On the other hand, the story presents a crafty reimagining of traditional Catholic gender paradigms through the evolving relationship of Martina, the female protagonist, with saintly authorities. By reproducing stereotypical roles for women and simultaneously introducing glimpses of female agency, Pardo Bazán exposes and denounces domestic violence and addresses the complicated roles of men and women who attempt to remedy this social ill.

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